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John – that’s a really nice was to trigger engagement – and beliefs vs “knowing” is a nice distinction.
John – the role play is a bit of fun – it’s nice to have a script to get it started. Do you have a fixed globe? and have you seen the Earth Ball globes? The Universe in a Box booklet is HUGE – and just full of activities for 4 to 8 year olds – you might let me know over the year which parts of it were most use to you.
Hi John, to avoid getting the extra formatting, see the first post in this thread.
Can you give external access to your mind map? Right now it is giving “Diagram not found!”
When discussing density with children, please keep in mind that density doesn’t appear in the primary curriculum – so use language like: light for its size, heavy for its size. Floating/sinking can get complicated, so you might want to add in the design a boat language and the design a diver language from primary science.
Joey – would you explore the appearance of the Moon in terms of the light shining on it and what we are able to see? If you have high resolution images of the Moon from a telescope, then the shadows of lunar features can be seen, and that can lead to an exploration of how the sunlight lights up the Moon – giving the shadows that cause the phases.
The surface of the Moon’s lunar dust is also quite nasty for humans – see this article.
Hi Denise – to get rid of the additional formatting see the first post in this thread.
I like how you have planned an engage section with interesting resources that will get the ideas going. The starter question for the investigation should be quite simple, and answerable from the activity the children carry out – in this case a design and make of the lunar surface might ask “which materials will be best to make a moon model?” and then the children might plan (which replaces predict) the best materials and then make (replaces the next section of the framework).
Eve – would you have the children connect what they think of the other planet to the design of the alien they make? I know there is a huge variety of lifeforms on this planet – so pretty much any alien will ‘work,’ but asking the children to explain why the alien has the features it does can be both imaginative and scientifically based.
Allowing for differentiation is so vital, and I like the way you have connected distance from the Sun to how much light a planet receives — this could tie into scales in the solar system (as detailed in this space week resource).
The shadow drawing activity is always a hit — and there is the chance to really probe the children’s understanding of why it happens. When I have done this activity, children are really surprised at how fast their shadow moves.
Aisling – I love that Shadow Play video – and how it frames the questions that the little birds have — what a fabulous trigger for the children to be able to share what they know vs what the birds understand.
Michael – I came across this simple flow chart for “what is that light in the sky” shared on APOD
In the resource, there is the suggestion of using flints — are they easy to get? I think rubbing hands together to show friction might be safer!
Stellarium (which we meet in the online tools) has a meteor shower function that nicely adds in shooting stars to the night sky.
Great stuff Rachel – I love this bit:
To be freed, a friend must either release him by pushing his arms down or if the boys are able – they can try to use their shadow-selves to do it.
The child-centred discussion gives the children the chance to share their own understanding of what is going on, and then to check it through further activities.
Rachel – thanks for giving me the credit — but I think the system sometimes holds onto a post if there is formatting or links in it. I’ve had it tell me I was suspended from the whole forum once!! Luckily, the teachnet guys are around all the time and sort it out without us even having to ask 🙂
Ciara – I appreciate that space week does come early in the year – and you are quite right on the cutting skills of some infants! I’ve found that with a good pair of adult scissors, you can print one template and cut out about 4 sets of rocket mice at a time. The curling them into a cone and applying tape also require some fine motor skills – so you might want to buddy-up with an older class to have some extra helpers.
Allowing the children to freely explore and play with the mice is essential – and then you can ask questions to probe what the children think is happening and what they think might happen if they change some aspect of how they launch — ie… do you think it will go as high if you push very slowly? what if you push much harder?…
Ailis, I like the emphasis on what the alien might eat and drink, and where it lives. I have found sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming to try to design an alien for a particular planet and trying to match the body to the environment does take a high level of science thinking.
This allows an imaginative approach, with a bit of science coming in as well.